STRATEGY FOR THE HISTORIC INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT …

STRATEGY FOR THE HISTORIC INDUSTRIAL

ENVIRONMENT REPORT No.1

MALTINGS IN ENGLAND

REPORT BY AMBER PATRICK

FOR

MALTINGS IN ENGLAND

REPORT BY AMBER PATRICK

DATE JULY 2004

DRAWINGS BY ALLAN ADAMS

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH BY SHEILA ELY AND KEITH FALCONER

©Copyright English Heritage

The National Monuments Record is the public archive of English Heritage NATIONAL MONUMENTS RECORD CENTRE, KEMBLE DRIVE, SWINDON SN2 2GZ

National Monuments Record enquiries: telephone 01793 414600 World Wide Web: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report was commissioned by Keith Falconer and Tony Calladine as part of the SHIERs

(Strategy for the Historic Industrial Environment Report) programme and funded by the Buildings

Commission budget of the Historic Buildings & Research Department (HBARD).

The author has been greatly assisted in the compilation of the report by English Heritage staff

based in Swindon notably Sheila Ely and Keith Falconer. The author would also particularly like to

thank Ursula Dugard-Craig (EH Swindon) for the formatting and final production of this report,

Allan Adams (EH York) for the drawings and the English Heritage photographers in Cambridge,

Swindon and York for so many fine photographs.

Beavan's Maltings, Warminster. [BB95/05270]

All the photographs, except those separately credited, are English Heritage or the author's. The

author would like to thank Miss Ann Thomas for Fig 57, a view taken for the Images of England

project and Edwin Tucker & Son Ltd of Newton Abbot for use of their copyrighted material, Cover,

Figs 25, 26 & 31, lodged on English Heritage's ViewFinder image library.

MALTINGS IN ENGLAND

CONTENTS

SUMMARY

PART ONE

1 MALT PRODUCTION AND THE BREWING INDUSTRY

History of malt production, its distribution and its relationship with the brewing industry.

2 THE MALTING PROCESS AND ITS BUILDING COMPONENTS

A description of the Malting Process and its components and the changes over time.

3 MALTINGS - THE BUILDINGS

The chronological and typological development of the buildings, the arrangement of their components and the regional variations.

4 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appendix A: County characterisations

Appendix B: County totals

Appendix C: Malthouse features

PART TWO

1 ASSESSMENT OF THE NATIONAL RESOURCE

© ENGLISH HERITAGE MALTINGS IN ENGLAND 1

SUMMARY

This report will seek to characterise and assess the malting industry

by providing a summary of its process and historical context;

by outlining the historical development and typology of its buildings and their distribution;

by establishing the known stock of surviving buildings of the industry by county;

by indicating the adequacy of protective designation of these buildings.

Maltings are an obvious starting point for the study of the brewing and distilling industries. They

comprise an unique yet ubiquitous building form within the landscape of our cities, market towns

and countryside. Their study illustrates the changing influences through time, of farming

practice, legislation, building technology and transport systems as well as more specialised

changes in malting and kiln technology with the development of mechanised handling and

power systems. Malt, until the 20th century, was, with a few exceptions produced in floor

maltings. The floor maltings as a building form is under extreme threat. Out of the thousands

that once existed across the country there are only a handful still in operation and the industry

has concentrated on a few sites employing a building technology more akin to chemical

refineries than the traditional building forms. The redundant floor maltings, many of which are

listed and occupy attractive sites have, for the last couple of decades, been a popular target for

residential and commercial conversion schemes with the consequent loss of historic detail.

An analysis of the Listed Building system in November 1996 indicated that over 600 maltings (in

some form or other) were listed, with a geographical spread across the whole country. There

were, however, notable concentrations in the eastern region - Essex (50), Suffolk (44),

Hertfordshire (37), Norfolk (19), and Cambridgeshire (16) - and in the west of the country

Gloucestershire (42) Shropshire (37). Wiltshire (33), Devon (20), Avon (16), Somerset (16) and

Dorset (17). Most (588) are listed Grade II, but a late 17th century malthouse at Kirklees Park in

Yorkshire is listed Grade I in its own right (and a further six by association with other historic

buildings) while seven were listed in their own right as Grade II* (and a further 20 by association

at this grade). No malthouse now a standing building above ground is scheduled, but a number

of the cave maltings in Nottingham are scheduled, and malthouses forming part of such sites as

Castle Acre Priory and Lindisfarne are included within the scheduled area.

In England the main use of malt was for brewing beer. Beer has been made on a domestic

scale throughout history and on a local level in taverns from medieval times onwards but in the

18th century the development towards large-scale industrial breweries started and was to

continue throughout the next two centuries. In consequence, there were not only many maltings

of various sizes, but they were wide spread across the town and country. Prior to the mid 19th

century when building materials were easily moved round the country, the construction of

maltings very much reflected the local vernacular traditions.

Today, few malthouses survive unaltered. The study of their buildings, often as they become

subject to listed building applications or are re-developed as part of the general planning

process has enabled a detailed understanding of the buildings and their development to be

obtained. There have been four specific county surveys: Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, and

Nottinghamshire which have included all malthouses, ranging from complete examples to those

where there is now minimal evidence that the building was once a malting. The range of

individual building recorded is wide starting from the 16th century up to and including the 20th

century. The majority of surveys have been prompted by listed building/conservation area

consent applications and this has resulted in a very differing geographical coverage. Despite

this it has been possible to distinguish areas where one type of malthouse is more prevalent

than another. This study is based on the findings resulting from the surveys, together with a

study of historical printed sources (see bibliography) which have provided details of early

malting practices. In turn, the evidence from the surveys, both broad based and individual

enable the recommendations in Part Two to be made.

The report is divided into two parts which are different in character and purpose.

Part One seeks to characterise the industry by outlining its development, its processes and its

buildings while Part Two addresses the current situation as regards survival and protection and

recommends further action. Thus Part One provides the context to Part Two which is topical

and dynamic and therefore less permanent.

Part One

History of malt production, its distribution and its relationship with the brewing industry.

A description of the malting process and its components and the changes over time.

The chronological and typological development of buildings, the arrangement of their components and the regional variations.

Bibliography

Appendix A County characterisations

Appendix B County totals.

Appendix C Malthouse features

Part Two

Assessment of the national position.


SOME DEFINITIONS

Whilst most of the terms and definitions used in this document are self-evident, some require

further explanation. In particular the method of measuring has changed not just from imperial to

metric but also changed from a largely volume based system to a weight based one. Thus the

majority of measurements in this text are given in imperial with a metric equivalent, but the

volume measurements have been translated into a metric weight equivalent.

Quarter: volume based measurement:

8 gallons = 1 bushel

8 bushels = 1 quarter

volume

quarter = 336 pounds or 3 hundredweight (malt)

6.56 quarters = 1 tonne (malt)

4.92 quarters = 1 tonne (barley)

volume to weight

Steep: a vessel usually part of the structure of the malthouse in which the barley was soaked in

water to start germination. Some 16th century steeps were small lead vessels which were not

necessarily fixed in the same way that later ones were. Later steeps were constructed of stone

or brick and made water tight. While latterly they were constructed of cast iron and most

recently of steel.

Pneumatic malting system: One in which air is forced through the batches of growing grain,

thus removing the need for other forms of ventilation. Pneumatic malting is now synonymous

with mechanical malting where the batch is also turned other than by hand. In the Saladin box

system large screws move up and down and turn the grain. In the drum system, the drums

rotate, slowly, and in that way the grain is turned.


PART ONE MALT PRODUCTION AND THE BREWING INDUSTRY

Malt is artificially germinated grain, usually barley, with germination arrested at the critical point

by kilning. It is a prime ingredient in the production of beer and whisky. It is also used in the

food industry for a range of products, including biscuits, breakfast food, vinegar and bread, and

dark malts are used for colouring in the manufacture of food. There are references to malt

being produced in England since the eleventh century, but early production was possibly in

barns and the kilning may have been done in domestic ovens. However, for at least the last 500

years it has also been made in purpose built malthouses with kilns specially designed to cure

the green malt. These buildings are known as floor maltings because the germinating barley

was spread out to grow on a floor. Inevitably as a successful industry the production of malt was

seen as a generator of government revenue. From 1644 onwards a tax was imposed on malt

with the rigorous period of enforcement being from 1827 to 1880 when the tax was finally

repealed. Although a pneumatic system of malting had been introduced in 1878 it was not until

the malt tax was repealed that it could be more easily implemented in the form of Saladin’s box

system and Galland’s drum system. Both these systems were also fully mechanised.

Beer was the staple drink before the introduction of

tea and coffee and it remained so for those who

could not afford the latter. In consequence not only

was the brewing industry substantial & ubiquitous,

but also the malting industry, although the latter is

less well documented. There have always been

significant differences in the organisation of the

malting and brewing industries. Prior to the 18th

century both the malting industry and the brewing

industry were generally small scale. But while the

brewing industry was small scale it was also often

domestic. In the mid-18th century some sixty per cent

of beer production was private, and much of the rest

was brewed by retail brewers operating from inns.

Up to that time, the common brewers as commercial

brewers were known, only accounted for a small

proportion of the national production, while retail

brewers, those that brewed their own beer for sale

on the premises were, with the exception of London,

of much greater significance.

1. Beer - The End Product

In contrast, in the malting industry, although the production of malt may have been small scale it

was not domestic in the same way as the brewing industry. It was in the hands of specialist


maltsters who were a feature of almost every market town. Thus while a household might

produce its own beer, it was less likely to produce its own malt, unless on a farm. Even where

there are references to malt mills in probate inventories, this should not be taken to mean that

those households made their own malt, rather that they brewed their own beer. Thus generally

it is rare to find malt mills in early maltings, because milling was part of the brewing as opposed

to the malting process. An exception is at Hamlet House, Chetnole, Yetminster, Dorset (listed

Grade II*) where there is a small malt mill at the end of the malthouse next to the house with a

chute from the storage floor to the mill.

Changes in the brewing industry inevitably meant changes within the malting industry. With

commercialisation came an increase in size on the part of the breweries and by the end of the

18th century many cities, and London especially, were served by large common breweries and

the proportion of malt consumed by home brewing declined to well under half the total output.

The retail brewers however, held sway in many areas and even as late as 1831 common

brewers were of negligible significance in many rural areas and surprisingly only had a minor

impact in some large cities such as Manchester (23% of the malt brewed) and Leeds (21%).

2. The Malthouse, Letheringsett Brewery,

Letheringsett, Norfolk. [BB97/05513]

As common brewing increased there was a desire

to control the production, and hence the cost, and

quality, of the malt the brewers were going to use.

There were several ways of achieving this. The

most obvious was by having a malthouse on the

same site as the brewery, operated by the brewery

itself and this was to become an increasingly

common occurrence, as at Letheringsett Brewery,

Norfolk. A second way was to own malthouses

elsewhere, either within the same locality, or, with

an improved transport infrastructure provided by

canals, and in particular railways, at some remove.

The canal side maltings at Stanstead Abbots are

an example of the former and Seed's Maltings in Worksop of the latter. These maltings were

often but not always located where the barley was grown. Thirdly, the brewery did not own the

malthouse but the maltster was contracted to

produce only for that brewery. Lastly, there

remained, of course, a number of independent

maltsters, sales maltsters, who owned or leased

3. The Maltings, High Street, Stanstead Abbots,

Hertfordshire. [AA98/05287]

4. C. E. Seed's Maltings, Worksop. [A Patrick]


their malthouses and were not tied to any particular brewery, and therefore sold their malt on

the open market. In the 20th century, just as with brewing where there was rationalisation and

amalgamation within the industry, the malting industry also experienced the development,

through amalgamation, of large firms operating on a national basis. Inevitably, with the

establishment of these large firms operating huge maltings and large brewery concerns

preferring to place large orders for malt, there was less need for small malthouses.

Distribution, Location, and Transport

Good quality barley prefers light, free draining soils and a climate that is not too wet. These

conditions favour the east and south of the country and it is these areas that became the

granary of England, supplying London and later brewing centres such as Burton-on-Trent (fig.

5). The focus on malting in these areas has been strengthened by the county surveys of

malthouses in Essex, Hertfordshire, including the Essex-Hertfordshire border, and Kent and

Nottinghamshire. However, from the outset, the malting industry was to be found throughout the

country, showing that demand for the product overcame geographical disadvantages of soil and

climate. By the 18th century

maltings were to be found in

almost every sizeable town and

their structure and building

materials reflected the local

vernacular. A crude analysis of

1830s trade directories shows

that malthouses were indeed

just as numerous in western

counties such as

Gloucestershire, Shropshire,

Devon and Somerset, as in

Essex, Hampshire and

Hertfordshire. (See Appendix A)

5. Bass Maltings, Wetmore Road, Burton-on-Trent. [AA012346]

There is no doubt that supplying London, the naval dockyards and military bases stimulated a

demand for malt which could only be supplied from a distance. In consequence a coastal trade

from Essex to London developed, as did one along the navigable rivers Lea, and Thames and

their tributaries, and even down the Great North Road. As a result, towns such as Ware, and

Bishops Stortford, and Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon, Newbury, Henley and Banbury became

well-known for their trade in malt. Dorset and Hampshire supplied malt to the Royal Dockyards.

However, it should not be thought that the south-east had a monopoly of the trade in malt. The

river Severn provided a conduit for Bristol’s malt, and the river Idle for Nottinghamshire’s malt.

In the 17th and 18th centuries malthouses were often built where the product was required. Until

well into the 19th century in rural areas this might be on a farm. Farm malthouses are often

difficult to identify now because of subsequent re-use. In towns it was common to find

malthouses behind houses which front onto main streets. These are commonly referred to as

burgage plot malting in that they were built on the original medieval burgage plots, that at


Marshfield being a good example. Burgage plot

maltings may be found when excavating urban

sites. They were, by the nature of the plots, long

and narrow which was not a major handicap,

and in time, some were enlarged and expanded

beyond the burgage plot. Unfortunately, in many

cases they were demolished to make way for

other uses and now the only evidence for them

is a house name or an early map reference.

One of the areas where many burgage plot

maltings survive is Ware, Hertfordshire,

between the High Street and the Navigation.

Historically, as demand increased, burgage plot maltings moved to the sites along side the

Great North Road, and later the Lea and Stort Navigations. The malt traffic on the Great North

Road was so great that there were complaints about the excessive wear to the road surface.

6. Burgage plot malthouse at Marshfield, South Gloucestershire. [A Patrick]

The migration to transport related sites was

accelerated with the development of the

national canal network. As the network grew,

malthouses were built alongside canals.

Such examples include what later became

Baird’s malthouse in Sydney Buildings, Bath,

alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal (fig 7).

Another example is Grove Mill Malthouse,

Retford, Nottinghamshire which is on the

side of the Chesterfield Canal, and a still

later example is at Langley Green, Oldbury,

West Midlands, alongside the Titford Canal

(fig 8), part of the Birmingham Canal

Navigation. This trend was further accelerated in the second half of the 19th century with the

development of the railway system. Rail access now became the dominant location factor.

Sometimes malthouses were built at the point of barley production as in the case of the Bass

maltings at Sleaford, Lincolnshire (fig 9), which is the largest set of floor maltings now surviving,

7. Baird’s Maltings, Sydney Buildings, Bath. [A Patrick]

8. Langley Maltings, Oldbury, West Midlands. [AA98/05284]

9. Bass Maltings, Sleaford. Lincolnshire.[BB82/09997]


or at the point of import such as at

Mistley and Ipswich where Californian

barley was unloaded. In other cases

the malthouses were in the brewery

town, in particular Burton-on-Trent. A

surviving example being on Wetmore

Road (see fig 5). Sometimes, the

malthouses would be located in-

between the barley growing lands and

the brewery, for example Worksop in

Nottinghamshire, on the edge of the

barley lands supplied by a Sheffield

brewery, Thomas Berry and Co. While

in the south of the county Shipstone’s

maltings at Beeston supplied

Nottingham (fig 10). Sometimes, as in the case of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, where

there were numerous malthouses these were located to benefit from both water and rail

transport.

10. Beeston Maltings, Nottinghamshire [BB017932]

It should be pointed out however that some late, medium sized and large maltings and

especially those serving their own breweries, did not have either river or rail access, for

example, at Cheltenham, the Cheltenham Original Brewery’s malthouse on Henrietta Street

was built with only road access. Likewise Free Rodwell’s Malthouses Nos 3, 4, and 7 School

Lane, Mistley had no rail access.

11. Malthouse, Henrietta Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire [BB98/21450]

12. Free Rodwell’s malthouses, Mistley, Essex.

[NBR 83272]



THE MALTING PROCESS AND ITS BUILDING COMPONENTS

Introduction

Malt is artificially germinated grain. Almost any grain can be malted but barley is the most usual

raw ingredient for making malt. Malt until the 20th century was, with only a few exceptions,

produced in floor maltings. These floor maltings were usually purpose built structures which

had a number of distinctive features, most noticeably long elevations with regularly spaced

windows and pyramidal roofed kilns.

Malting was, and to some extent still is, a seasonal process, and historically took place between

the months of October and May. Those few maltings still working usually close for a month in

the summer, normally July. This, however, is more for convenience than because of the

impossibility of making malt due to the summer temperatures. Today most, although not all,

floor maltings have air conditioning systems. This enables an even temperature to be

maintained all the time and therefore malt can be made all the year round. The month’s closure

is thus now primarily a time for cleaning and repairing equipment, thus retaining the tradition of

the summer closure period. Seasonal production also fits in more or less with the traditional

harvest time of the summer months, although the barley is now ready earlier, in July and

August, as opposed to the period prior to the mid twentieth century when the harvest was later,

in August to September. The change in the harvest date is due to changes in sowing times and

the use of different varieties of barley.

Barley Storage, Drying and Cleaning

The barley has to be cleaned and stored prior to use to ensure its dormancy is broken. In the

pre-industrial period when most maltings were small scale operations, the barley was either

stored in ricks and a granary on the farm until shortly before it was used. The threshing and

winnowing would remove most of the small stones and the chaff, but there was probably

additional dressing at the malthouse, and simple cleaning equipment can be found in early

malthouses. Later, when the barley came from the farm directly after harvesting there were

more substantial grain cleaning or dressing machines as well as specific machines for removing

half corns, all driven by some form of power. Although, barley on the straw could safely be

stored in a rick, when it was stored in the malthouse, it was often necessary to reduce the

moisture content in the barley to about 12 per cent so that it could be stored safely. Special

barley kilns were built from about the mid 19th century, an early and original example being at

Warwick and Richardson’s Brewery Maltings, Northgate, Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire

which was built in 1864 (fig 13). Prior to the construction of special barley kilns, it was usual to

gently dry the barley on the malt kiln.

The storage area for barley in the early small-scale malthouses was usually minimal and was

directly above the steep, with sufficient grain being available for just a few batches with the

major quantities stored on the farm. What storage there was in the maltings, was usually in

wooden bins. As malthouses increased in size, and as the barley crop was stored on site, it was

necessary to have greater storage capacity, and much of a floor, which in large maltings was

often a loft floor in the roof, or a block at the end of a malthouse would be utilised for barley

storage as at No 4 Weymouth. The storage bins were still constructed of wood, to ensure

adequate moisture control as at No 1 Weymouth. Later still, in the twentieth century, barley was

stored in separate concrete silos.

In small maltings where the barley was stored above the steep it was a simple matter to open a

chute and let the barley drop into the cistern. Even in large maltings where more barley was

stored, that for immediate use was nearly always stored above the steep. In the more highly

mechanised maltings of the later 19th century, the barley would by transferred by auger.

Likewise in the modern maltings similar mechanical means are used.

13. Cross-section through barley kiln of Warwick and Richardson’s Brewery Maltings, Newark

14. Malthouse No 4 Weymouth. - barely storage

[BB95/08104]

15. Malthouse No 1 Weymouth. - barley storage. [BB95/07354]


The storage and cleaning of both

barley before the malting

process started and the malt at

the end of the process are

essential parts of the process

and require dedicated areas

within the building. Externally the

storage areas of a malthouse

can usually be recognised by

taking in doors above ground

level. Often these doors would

have a hoist canopy or lucam

above them as at Watton Road,

Ware (fig 16). As storage

required a lot of space an area of

maltings with few or no windows

(or just small dormers in the roof)

can indicate a storage area

(fig17). Sometimes the storage

block might be structurally

distinctive perhaps in the form of

a cross wing, or covered in

weather-boarding or with some

other distinguishing features.

Mechanical handling, in large

maltings, sometimes required a

power house, but often an engine

was just located in the corner of

the building!


16. Watton Road malthouse, Ware. - showing lucam. [BB92/26490]

17. Dormers, Gosford Road, Beccles, Suffolk [BB92/07348]

Steeping

The first stage in the malting process, after

drying and cleaning is the steeping of the

barley in the cistern to begin germination.

Early 16th and 17th century steeping

cisterns were often lead vessels and not a

built-in part of the structure of the

malthouse. From at least the end of the

17th century the most usual type of

steeping cistern, until the last quarter of the

19th century, was a rectangular trough

constructed of stone or brick and made

water tight with either lead or later cement,

18. Steep, Wetmore Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. [AA012376]

or tiles as at Wetmore Road Maltings, Burton-on-Trent. Often there was a well nearby. At

various periods, the dimensions of steeps, and even the slope of their floors, were controlled by

the provisions of the Malt tax. Then, in the last quarter of the 19th century there were two crucial

developments.

Steeps were still rectangular in shape but were constructed of cast iron and flat bottomed as at

Boroughbridge (fig 19). Then, with the repeal of the Malt tax in 1880, self emptying hopper

bottom steeps, also made of cast iron were introduced, as at Weymouth No 4 (figs 20 & 21).

Today, self-emptying steeps are of steel, and round as opposed to square in shape, with

conical hopper bottoms, as at Beeston (fig 22).

19. Cast iron steep - flat bottomed - Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. [AA98/02213]

20. Top cast iron steep - hopper bottomed – Malthouse No 4. Weymouth. [BB95/08086]

21. Bottom cast iron steep - hopper bottom – Malthouse No.4. Weymouth. [BB95/08101]

22. Steep - round steel - Beeston, Nottinghamshire. [BB017946]

The water in the cistern was ideally about 54°F (12.5°C). At a temperature lower than this

growth would be retarded and at a higher more water would be taken up. The steeping period

generally lasted between two and three days, or 60 and 72 hours, although there are

references to foreign barleys needing to be steeped for up to 100 hours. The length of time the

barley was steeped would depend upon several factors: the type and quality of the barley,

whether the water was hard or soft, and the temperature of both the air and more particularly

the water. Today, in the more mechanised maltings it is common to steep for just 48 hours, and

with warm water as at Beaven's Maltings, Warminster (fig 23).


The steep water is changed several times during the steeping process, and the grain is rested

for 8 and 12 hours between each wetting. This practise of resting the grain has not always been

in operation, and until at least the 1820s it appears to have been more usual to allow the barley

to remain in the water for the whole period of the steep, with out any rest periods or any change

of water. In fact it was recommend as unwise to change the water in the winter when it was

cold. At some periods of rigorous tax

implementation the emptying of steeps was

controlled by the excise-man who used lead seals

on the drain cocks. The aim of steeping is to give

the barley sufficient moisture to ensure perfect and

regular germination. The moisture content of the

barley after steeping should be 40 to 45 per cent.

Once the barley had been steeped it had to be

removed from the cistern. In the rectangular flat

bottomed steeps, the usual method of emptying

was by shovelling the wet grain out and into

the couch frame or onto the growing floor.

Prior to the repeal of the Malt tax, the

steeping cistern was located either on the

bottom floor, or the middle floor of a

malthouse with three growing floors, or

sometimes in a two growing floor malting on

a mezzanine floor in between the growing

floors. When the steeps were located on the

middle or mezzanine floor the men threw the

steeped grain up or down as required (fig

24). With the advent of mechanisation it was

possible to empty them by auger. Then, with

the introduction of hopper bottomed steeps, there was no question of emptying the steeps by

hand. They were simply emptied by gravity. This did mean, of course, that such steeps always

had to be located on the upper floors of a

malthouse. Once the bottom chutes were

opened the steeps emptied themselves (fig

25).

23. Steep - Beaven’s Malting, Warminster, Wiltshire. [BB95/05256]

24 Shovelling wetted barley, Beaven's Maltings, Warminster, Wiltshire. [BB95/05244]

25. Emptying steep – Tucker's Maltings, Newton Abbot, Devon.


In floor malting the wet grain still had to be

spread out to grow and it was common to use

barrows to move the wet barley to the

appropriate part of the growing floor and then

spread it by hand (fig 26).

In pneumatic maltings using Saladin boxes, or drum, the grain

was moved by chute or auger depending upon which was most

appropriate, from the steep directly to the box or drum for

germination - there was no couching.

26. Barrow - Tuckers Maltings,

Newton Abbot, Devon

Couching

The next stage in the malting process was couching whereby

the steeped grain was rested for a period, in a heap of sufficient

depth, so that it could gain a little heat. During the operation of

the Malt tax, which was repealed in 1880, couching was

obligatory and was the part of the process during which its

volume was measured by the Excise men. To ensure uniformity

the couch was constructed according specific regulations, but is

best described simply as a rectangular frame of which three

sides were permanent and the fourth was removable, to enable

the grain from the couch to be spread out more easily. The

legislation even specified the height above the couch as well as

the steep.

In the 17th century it would appear that

couching might be as long as three nights.

By the 18th century this had been reduced

to 30 hours and was so specified in the

Malt tax Legislation. Then in 1827 the laws

relating to the Malt tax were changed again

and couching was reduced to 24 hours.

After the repeal of the Malt tax couching

was sometimes still practised but it did not

have to be undertaken in a frame, nor did it

have to be for a set number of hours. The

surviving evidence for couching is therefore

limited to slots for the couch boards either

in walls or on the cast iron columns closest

to the steep, as at Cley Road Swaffam (fig 27) or sometimes thickened patches of plaster on

the walls adjacent to the steep. The introduction of hopper bottomed steeps, meant couching

was seldom practised, and couching, as such, is not possible when malt is made in a box or

drum maltings. Once couching was complete, the maltsters shovelled the barley out onto the

germinating floors.

27. Couch - Cley Road, Swaffham, Norfolk. [BB95/02223]

Growing

From the couch or the steep the soaked barley was spread out onto the floor to grow on a

germinating floor. These long open floors usually with restricted head-room and often supported

by ranks of wooden or cast iron columns give maltings their characteristic external massing and

distinctive internal appearance. The best growing floors were covered with a screed surface, or

quarry tiles laid on the diagonal as at Beeston (fig 28), but other materials used included slate


as at Swaffam (fig 29), asphalt, brick pammets,

or tamped chalk. Wood was generally avoided

in this damp environment and features such as

skirting boards were often of slate or corners

were finished with tiles. The number of

germinating floors in any one maltings might

vary from one to six. In pneumatic maltings the

boxes or drums were usually on one floor, the

saladin boxes at Gainsborough being typical (fig

30).

28. Growing floors - note the red tile. Beeston, Nottinghamshire. [BB017952]

29. Slate growing floor - Cley Road, Swaffham, Norfolk. [BB95/02228]

30. Saladin boxes - Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. [AA98/03369]


The time over which the barley is germinated to the point when it was ready to be kilned has

been steadily reduced. In the 16th century it was usual for the steeped grain to be on the

growing floor for more than three weeks, but by the 18th century this had shortened to less than

three weeks. By the second half of the 19th century the growing time had been reduced to 14

days and this growing time continued according

to manuals until at least the 1930s. Today

growing may be as short as four days, although

it is more usually six days. The depth of the

grain on the growing floors can vary from four to

eight inches (10 to 20 cms) depending upon the

weather and other conditions (fig 31). The

temperature on the floor ranged from 56°F

(13°C) to 65°F (15°C) or even 70°F (22°C) with

the higher temperature being reached at the

end of growing.

31. Tucker's Maltings, Newton Abbot, Devon

32. Downing's Maltings,

Gloucester. [BB94/17197]

33. Anchor Brewery,

Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. [AA98/02214]

34. Mistley, Essex. [NBR 83272]


35. Malthouse No 2. Weymouth. [BB96/08799]

To maintain an even temperature in a malthouse ventilation was provided, traditionally by

windows and louvres in the long elevations of the building. As figures 32 to 35 illustrate there is

a wide variety in the form of these louvers. The

louvre apertures could be opened or closed as

required to increase or reduce the air flow depending

upon whether it was hot or cold outside.

Occasionally there were attempts to provide

additional ventilation, and one such example was

Last’s patent (in use by 1889) which utilised the

draught provided by the heat of the kiln to increase

the air flow across the growing floors. The only

identified extant example of this is Malthouse No 4 at

Weymouth (fig 36). Then gradually during the

second part of the twentieth century, refrigeration air

36. Last's Patent Ventilator.

conditioning units were introduced to floor maltings

(fig 37). This enabled them to continue working

during most of the summer months when in the

previous century there had been no alternative but to

close the maltings because the temperatures for

germination were too high.

37. Air conditioning unit - East Dereham, Norfolk. [BB93/10023]

The growing batch of wetted barley is referred to as a

“piece”. Traditionally there are two methods of floor

working, piece and strip malting. In the former, the

batch of malt is moved down the germinating floor as

it grows and in some malthouses approximately

halfway through the process it was moved, by hand

winch and basket, from the bottom floor to the top or

upper floor. In strip malting, the batch is not moved

down the floor but remains in the same position being

turned as necessary. As germination progressed the

rootlets began to grow and it was necessary to turn the growing grain to prevent it from matting

together and to ensure the growth was/is even. Originally turning was done by hand using a

broad flat bladed shovel. Later ploughs, which were a three pronged, flat bladed ‘fork’ as at

Beavens, Great Yarmouth (fig 38). were used and more recently, in the 20th century mechanical

turners, commonly a Robinson turner, rather like lawn mowers, were used (fig 39). It was rare

for there to be any greater mechanisation of turning, but the last floor maltings to be

constructed, that at Market Street, Grimsby built for Sanders in 1952/3, had a mechanical turner

which moved up and down the floors turning the pieces as required. The sound it produced was

remarkably similar to grain being turned by shovel!

38. Malt plough - Beaven’s Maltings, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. [BB94/08087]

39. Robinsons turner, Great Yarmouth

Maltings, Norfolk. [BB94/08086]


In the last quarter of the 19th century, pneumatic

malting was introduced to England from Europe.

There were two systems: the Saladin box system

and the drum system, originally developed by

Galland. In both these systems the steeped grain

was transferred to a box or a drum and then the

turning was done by mechanical means (fig 40). In

the box a set of large screws was moved up and

down the box to turn the grain and prevent the roots

from matting together. In a drum the grain was

turned by rotating the drum and thereby rolling over

the growing grain (fig 41).

40. Saladin box screws, Paul's Maltings, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. [AA98/03373]

41. Malting Drums, The Plough, Burton-on-Trent. [Brewers Journal]

When growing was finished, the green

malt has to be moved either into a heap

for withering or straight onto the kiln (fig

42). Transferring the green malt to the kiln

was hard work but, until the advent of wide

spread mechanisation, was often done by

men with shovels. In consequence where

the malthouse had more than one growing

floor, the kiln drying floor was often below

the top germination floor. This made

shovelling the wet grain from the top floor

onto the kiln easier. In other

arrangements, men simply had to throw

up the wet grain onto the kiln floor while

in some cases the green malt would have

been moved up by hoist and basket.

Even in maltings built in the late 19th

century it was not uncommon for green

malt to be transferred to the kiln by

basket and hoist, although such maltings

often seem to have acquired mechanical

means fairly soon after construction, for

example Malthouse No 4, Weymouth.

Mechanical means meant that the grain

was moved either by shovel or later by

power shovel to a jacobs ladder or bucket

elevator.

42. Loading the Kiln, Dereham, Norfolk. [BB93/10026]


Withering

At the end of the growing period it was not uncommon to wither or dry off the green malt before

putting it onto the kiln for curing. Thus the green malt was heaped up and allowed to lie for

twelve hours. It was considered good practise to wither, although with improved kilns being

increasingly used from the late 19th century onwards, its practise became less essential. It

should be noted however that it was still referred to up to the 1930s when the withering

temperature was about 60°F (15.5°C) to 63°F (17.2°C) for English barleys and as high as 65°F

(18.3°C) for foreign barleys. The moisture content was ideally 43%. Resting the green malt

before kilning is still practised sometimes in floor maltings, but the practise has generally died

out and it is not possible to wither in mechanical maltings.

A study of a malthouse from its exterior only will not reveal the exact location of steeping,

couching and growing, but this part of the process as a whole can be recognised by the long

elevation of a building with regularly spaced louvred or shuttered windows. Quite often the

windows are only in every other bay. In some early small malthouses the bottom floor elevation

was completely blank.

Kilning

When the green malt, as partially germinated barley is called, has reached the required extent

of growth, it is ready to go to the kiln. The kilning of the malt arrested germination and therefore

halted the breakdown of the starch molecules. It reduce the moisture content, to about three per

cent which is necessary for safe storage and produces an ideal grain for grinding to grist in the

brewing process. Kilning also gave colour and flavour to the malt

It is very likely that in the early years malt was kilned in

domestic bread ovens, and there are references which

refer to drying malt in the sun! Purpose-built malt kilns

were in existence by at least the thirteenth century. At

that date the malt was dried on hair cloths. It would

seem that later on some kilns had their hair-cloths laid

on perforated stone tiles, although it was more common

for the hair cloths to be laid on what are referred to as

wooden rafters. It was still common to lay the malt on a

hair-cloth in the 18th century, but as early as the 1730s

other materials were being used and they included iron

plate frames and tile frames, both of which had

holes in them, and brass wired frames and iron

wired frames. The remains of perforated

ceramic tiles are sometimes found in the vicinity

of old maltings from the 18th century onwards.

By the mid-19th century the perforated tiles were

of a standard size, a foot square (30cm square)

(fig 43). A few firms became well-known for their

manufacture. Woven wire floors remained in

use but few now survive and by the last quarter

of the 19th century wedge wire kiln drying floors

were becoming more commonly used (fig 44).

43. Perforated Kiln Tiles, Warminster Maltings, Wiltshire. [BB95/05264]

44. Gosford Road, Beccles, Suffolk. Wedge wire drying floor. [BB95/01927]


The green malt is laid on the drying floor to a depth of about eight to twelve inches (20 to

30cm), although in the 18th and 19th centuries the depth might be as little as 4 inches (10cm).

The length of time it took to kiln the malt has varied over the centuries. In the 16th and 17th

centuries the literature is not specific, simply stating that the malt is kilned until it is done and a

check is made by hand. By the 18th century it would seem that kilning lasted sometimes as little

as four hours. and sometimes as much as twenty hours, although the length of kilning seems to

have depended in part upon the construction of the kiln and the type of fuel being used. During

the 19th century the kilning time increased and was generally three or four days. On some

modern kilns, the curing time has been reduced to just twenty four hours. The temperature

varied according to how well the kiln was constructed and the type of malt being made, but

could be as high as 220°F (105°C). In the first quarter of the 19th century it was recommended

that for the making of pale malt the temperature should be 120°F (31°C) and that for brown malt

should be 147°F (46.1°C). The malt was turned during kilning, by hand in the early days, and

later on by mechanical turners. In the 18th century turning every two, three or four hours was

recommended.

A variety of fuels have been used in the kilning of malt.

Straw was popular in the 16th to 18th centuries as was

wood and fern. The type of fuel use also depended upon

what type of malt was being produced. Well-dried billets

were used for the kilning of brown malt. It was always

considered that coke was the best, especially for making

pale and amber malts. By the 19th century the usual fuel

was anthracite or coke and as the combustion products

usually passed directly through the malt a fuel of low

arsenic content was essential. By the later 20th century

gas or oil are used, with gas usually preferred to oil while

anthracite is still used in Suxé anthracite hopper

furnaces (fig 45). 45. Suxé Furnace - Malthouse No 4

Weymouth, Dorset. [BB95/08083]

There are few structural details available on the early kiln

furnaces. The simplest were open fire baskets placed in a room under the drying floor with

usually a deflector plate above the basket to

disperse the heat evenly around the drying floor.

Bricked-in furnaces with fire bars in a stout shaft of

stone or brick seems to have been in use from at

least the 18th century with the disperser plate in a

heat chamber immediately below the kiln floor.

Characteristically these kilns were rectangular with

the kiln floor supported by brick or stone vaulting in

various arrangements (figs 46-48).

46. Malt kiln furnace - Burghley Park,

Cambridgeshire. [BB95/02438]


47. Malt kiln furnace, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. [BB91/16455]

These developed into shaft furnaces, which on a much large scale were built into the 20th

century. Patent kilns seeking improved distribution of heat sometimes by means of a fan were

introduced by a number of firms, including H.J.H. King, Robert Boby, Robert Free, and E.S

Beaven (fig 49). Later, as mentioned above, the Suxé anthracite furnace was introduced. After

the repeal of the Malt tax when much larger maltings were being built, doubled-floored kilns,

which were popular elsewhere in Europe, were introduced through the advocacy of designers

such as H. Stopes. However, after a couple of decades of popularity the difficulty experienced

in getting the correct balance of temperature between the two floors caused this arrangement to

fall out of favour.

48. Malt Kiln furnace, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. [BB91/16450]

49. Beavens kiln furnace, Warminster Maltings Wiltshire. [BB95/05274]

When kilning was completed, the malt was removed promptly from the kiln. Traditionally by men

shovelling the malt off. Later there were more mechanical means, either by dropping it through

the floor into chutes, or, more recently, by the floors tipping up and the malt dropping into

hoppers and chutes.


Kilns, where they survive, are the most

distinctive external features of a malthouse.

Early maltings might have round, cone

shaped roofs. Generally surviving kiln roofs

are pyramidal in shape, (fig 50) although

sometimes they had a rectangular-shaped

hipped roof with cowls protruding from the

ridge, or a long ridge vent cowl. If the

distinctive roof structure has disappeared (or

never even existed), it is possible to

recognise kilns by a number of other features.

A particularly distinctive feature of kilns is the

presence of the bosses of tie bars. Kilns often

needed additional support and this was

sometimes supplied in the form of buttresses or massive metal iron girders, usually placed

vertically. At ground floor level there were/are iron grilled doorways and where the kiln elevation

is unaltered there are usually blank elevations with no windows except just under the eaves.

Kilns are the features most often uncovered in archaeological excavations. It is also worth

noting that later malthouses often had a barley drying kiln attached to them, usually near the

steep.

50. Exterior of Malt Kiln, Clearbrook, Midford, Somerset. [BB96/10262]

Malt Storage and Cleaning

Finally, the kilned malt was dressed (the rootlets removed and the grain cleaned) and then

stored until it was required for brewing usually for

at least a month before it was used (fig 51). Unlike

barley storage, it was usual for the malt to be

stored at the maltings, sometimes in a block

beyond the maltkiln, or on a floor adjacent to

the kiln in the main body of the building. To

reduce the likelihood of malt gaining moisture it

was stored in wooden bins where the wood would absorb any excess moisture though in some

prestigious late 19th century maltings metal (zinc) lined bins were installed, for example

Malthouse No 4 at Weymouth (fig 52),. Later in the mid-twentieth century concrete malt silos

gained in popularity, although not all maltings had them installed.

51. Grain Cleaner, Downing's Malthouse, Gloucester. [BB94/17203]

52. Malt storage bins, Malthouse No 4, Weymouth. [BB95/08090]


Other features

From the above description it is obvious that the grain is regularly moved from one part of the

building as the process of malting progresses. This has resulted in certain features the survival

of which can be used to determine how malt was made in a particular building. Ordinarily the

main source of power was man and in the early years it was common for malt to be moved

around by throwing, hoisting, and dropping. This movement of grain is indicated by hatches in

floors and walls, and doors onto kiln drying floors, and chutes in floors and walls. Sometimes in

early malthouses a simple hoist might survive. Externally there might be the remains of a hoist

housing. Sometimes a horse pulley would be used to hoist barley up onto the storage floors.

Horse pulley wheels survived until the malthouses were converted at Malthouse No 2 at

Weymouth and at the “Old Malthouse” at Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. Later on with

increased mechanisation and with more power, hoisting became more sophisticated, and

bucket elevators, and associated machinery such as line shafting, bearing boxes, augers,

elevator boxing, belt conveyors and motors may still survive in a disused malthouse. The power

for increased mechanisation was not often provided by an engine in a separate engine house,

but more usually the engine of whatever type (steam or gas, and later electric motors) was

located in a corner of the malthouse. (Engine houses were to be found however at large

maltings such as Sleaford, Barnetby-Le-Wold and Beeston).

One feature outside the malthouse which is sometimes to be found on site or nearby, is housing

for the head maltster and the main workers, as indicated by the name “malthouse cottages” as

at East Dereham, Norfolk. At other times nearby houses might be used and there is often no

indication of their former use as maltsters’ cottages. Exceptionally, where the scale of malting

was huge, little estates were built by the owners of the malthouses, for example at the Bass

Maltings at Sleaford, Lincolnshire and for Free Rodwell’s maltsters at Mistley, Essex. In these

instances it was not only housing which might be associated with malthouses but other social

features such as hotels, such as the Carr Arms Hotel at Sleaford, and chapels.

A Typical Maltings

Thus in summary it is possible to determine that a typical maltings will have a number of

separate components or sections some of which will be clearly visible from a simple external

inspection. There will be the barley storage and cleaning area, and possibly a barley kiln

nearby. Some of the barley storage will almost always be above the steeping cistern. Adjacent

to the steep is the couch frame, when they were obligatory. Beyond, and on the same level as,

or below or above, as appropriate, are the growing/germinating floors where the steeped barley

was spread out to grow. Adjacent to the growing floors but not always a direct extension are the

malt kilns. Finally adjacent to the kilns is the malt storage and cleaning area. All but the

steeping and couching area can usually be seen from external features.

Maltings - the Buildings, and their development over the centuries

The malting industry is characterised by its distinctive buildings reflecting the peculiar

requirements of malting. The major requirement was for a great deal of well-ventilated floor

space where an even temperature could be maintained over the growing grain. This was easier

to achieve in buildings that were long rather than broad and generally malthouses were twice as


long as their width and this ratio was

maintained as malthouse grew in size. Thus

malthouses in the 18th century might be 60

feet (18.3 m) long by 20 to 30 feet (6.1 m to

9.15 m) broad while by 1900 they could be up

to 140 feet (42.5 m) in length and 60 feet

(18.3 m) wide. Ventilation was achieved by

small windows along the length of the building

and these usually had shutters or louvres

instead of glazing (fig 53). Evenness of

temperature was achieved by low headroom to

the growing floor, often less than 6 feet (1.8m),

and sometimes by making the bottom working

floor semi-basement. Indeed the received wisdom

as late as the mid-19th century was that the best

malt was made on a single floored maltings and

where possible the floor should be below ground

level. With the introduction of more sophisticated

air flow systems in the later 19th century, head

room tended to be increased (fig 54). These long

ranges typically end in a kiln with a distinctive roof structure as discussed above.

53. Peach’s malthouse, Newark, Nottinghamshire. [BB93/23808]

54. Growing floor at Malthouse No 2, Weymouth,

Dorset. [BB95/07426]


The trend over the last four centuries was for malthouses to get larger and this trend

accelerated greatly with the coming of the railways in the mid-19th century and the repeal of the

malt tax in 1880. This enabled increased capacity to be achieved by building multi-storey

maltings (fig 55). The size of a maltings

was conveniently expressed in terms of

capacity of its steep which determined the

size of each piece being worked through

the building. Even as late as the early 19th

century malthouses were commonly less

than 15 quarters (2.28 tonnes) in capacity.

This rose to 30 quarters (4.57 tonnes) by

the second quarter of the 19th century. By

the end of that century there were several

maltings of 150 to 250 quarters (22.87 to

38.11 tonnes) capacity and maltings of 70

to 100 quarters (10.67 to 15.24 tonnes)

were the norm. As each additional quarter

steeped was reckoned to require an extra

200 square feet (70 m2) of floor area, the effect of these dramatic changes in capacity on size of

buildings and especially on their height, was dramatic. The following section illustrates how

these factors were expressed over time in the buildings themselves.

55. Free Rodwell’s Malthouse No 1, Mistley, Essex. [BB96/05599]

Early Malthouses: 16th and 17th Century

As discussed above specialised malthouses, which may initially have been simple barn-like

strictures, seem to have developed from medieval times onwards as indicated by the survival of

the name “malt house”. No medieval malthouse as a building type has been identified, although

recognisable cave maltings survive from the thirteenth century and kilns of a fourteenth century

date have been excavated. It is likely that the fabric of any extant malthouse has been

subsumed into associated buildings. An analysis of the Listed Building System database does

give mention of two 14th century and six 15th century buildings with malting associations. By the

17th century when commercial malting was on a scale that warranted taxing, malthouses had

become distinctly recognisable buildings. Most industrial and commercial buildings of a 16th or

17th century have undergone some alteration but there are several early examples where at

least the building is of an early date even if there is some doubt as to whether it was built as a

malthouse. The Listed Building analysis throws up mention of 30 16th century and 102 17th

century malthouses though in many cases little physical evidence of the industrial use survives.

It is in the earliest period where there seems to be a possibly significant connection between

malthouses and church owned properties. As monasteries brewed beer they would also have

needed malt and may have chosen to make their own. Or, the apparently significant connection

may simply reflect a better survival and excavation rate: more monastic/church sites have been

investigated and therefore more malthouses have come to light.

Possibly the earliest type of malthouse is the simplest, the two storey type. Here the process is

linear in that the growing barley moves along the bottom and only growing floor to the kiln which

is at one end. The top floor is used for grain storage. The early, seven bay, clunch and rubble

built 17th century attached malthouse at St Lucian’s, Lower Wharf, Wallingford in Oxfordshire,

the late 16th century timber-framed malthouse at Church Farmhouse, Edgton, Shropshire (which

retains its drying floor and brick kiln) and the Old Malthouse at Wightwick Manor, near

Wolverhampton all seem to be examples of this type.

Boyes Croft, Great Dunmow, Essex (Grade II*) is

definitely identified as an early example of a malthouse

of the 16th century and it is worth considering the

building in greater detail (fig 56). The main part of the

building, the part where the malt was grown is the

oldest part with timber framing and a crown post roof of

the 16th century. The kiln is a later, almost certainly

early 19th century addition, and the present steep is

also a later addition, probably 18th century. Despite this

there is little doubt that the building was built as a

malthouse, so it is reasonable to assume this was, at

the very least, not an untypical layout for an early

malthouse. Both floors were used as growing floors,

and this arrangement of growing floors is known as the

Ware pattern (see below).

56. Boyes Croft, Great Dunmow, Essex

before restoration. [ A Patrick]


Another early example is the malthouse

at Harvington Hall, Worcestershire. The

building, which is small, of three storeys

and of a rectangular shape is itself

Elizabethan, although the kiln is almost

certainly not Elizabethan in date, and

may be a later re-build of the 18th or 19th

century. Its internal arrangement is

revealing. Starting at the top floor, this

consists of a thick layer of plaster

screed, the middle floor is of wooden

floor boards and bottom has been

recently covered in concrete. There is a

hoist and associated hatchway on the top

floor. There is little doubt that growing was

undertaken on the bottom and top floors and

the middle floor was used for storage of the

barley for immediate use and the kilned malt.

One cannot be certain that this was the

original arrangement, but it is of a

recognised form referred to as the Newark

pattern of malthouse (see below). A second

early example of this pattern is to be found at

Chipping Campden. This building is of a 17th

century date. The top floor of this three story

building had a thick plaster floor, the middle

floor was of wooden boards and bottom floor

was a mixture of stone, brick and plain earth.

57. Malthouse, Harvington Hall, Worcestershire. [Miss Ann Thomas]

58. Long elevation, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. [AA95/04686]

The 18th Century

The physical survival of malthouse increases greatly in this period and the Listed Building

Survey analysis indicates that there are 197 references to 18th century malthouses, over 30% of

the total listed. The listed examples very much reflect

the local vernacular building traditions in their

construction as at the malthouse at Fulbourn. (fig

59). Thus many farm maltings are barely

distinguishable from other farmyard buildings, but in

towns they are more easily recognisable. Most listed

examples have lost their internal features and are

merely shells but a particularly complete example

listed at Grade II* is the malthouse in the grounds of

Shepherds’ Hill, Penrith. This retains a well, a large

stone trough, a furnace and fire doors, its drying

floor, brick vaulting and its king post roof.

59. Malthouse, Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire.

[BB94/02640]


Survival is very uneven across the country. Thus some counties such as Berkshire with a large,

well-documented, 18th century trade in malt have relatively few surviving malthouses of the

period while a county such as Derbyshire though less noted for its trade in the county as a

whole, has several 18th century malthouses at Ashbourne, Dale Abbey, Ilkeston, Long Eaton,

Stoney Middleton, Matlock, Bull Bridge, and Shardlow.

In step with the increasing size of breweries towards the end of the 18th century, one would

expect a trend for larger maltings, and this did occur in some locations such as the Norfolk

coastal town of Great Yarmouth, but this type of development was by no means universal. The

small-scale maltsters with an entirely local trade were still a feature of the industry well into the

19th century. Improvements in inland navigation throughout the century and the construction of

much of the canal system towards its end brought into being maltings whose trade was water

borne and not restricted to local markets. These typically served growing industrial towns such

as Leeds, ports such as Liverpool and Hull and the developing specialist towns such as Burton-

on-Trent. Thus on the river Severn there were 45 malthouses recorded in Tewkesbury in 1781

and numerous maltsters in

Gloucester involved in shipping

malt to Bristol and South Wales.

Though the city maltings of this

date have gone, there is still a

comparatively large example of a

shipping malthouse at Haw Bridge,

Tirley on the Severn, between the

two towns. Elsewhere in

Gloucestershire there are

numerous rural examples some of

which as at Frampton-on-Severn

and Brockhampton retain important

internal features. Their building

material reflects the local

vernacular and thus the

malthouses of the Cotswolds (fig 60) and in the Forest of Dean tend to be of stone whereas

those in the Vale are of brick. Other 18th century maltings of note are to be found in Kent,

Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire and Sussex (Appendix A). Two particularly good examples

are The Street at Boxley, Kent which is built of brick on the ground floor and ashlar chalk on the

upper floor and it retains its steep and two kilns (subsequently converted for hops), and at Alton

in Staffordshire which is almost completely underground.

60. Stone built malthouse, Brockhampton, Gloucestershire. [BB94/13843]

The 19th Century

As might be expected there are more malthouses listed for this century than any other, with

some 43% of the overall total. There is also a much higher rate of recognisable examples with

most entries being listed in their own right rather than by association with another historic

building. The century witnessed a general increase in size of maltings, reflecting a similar

increase in size and importance of common breweries. In the case of maltings, however, the

rate of increase was dramatically accelerated by the repeal of the malt tax in 1880 which


facilitated much larger production units with different internal arrangements and by the more

widespread use of mechanisation. The repeal of the malt tax made it more economic to build

bigger malthouses, and in particular ones with more storeys, but it was the availability of

mechanical handling and in particular grain moving equipment which enable malthouses to be

worked with more than a couple of storeys. Examples of multi-storeyed malthouses include

Weymouth No 4, and Fremlins Brewery Malthouse,

Faversham, Kent.

61. Malthouse No 4, Weymouth, Dorset. [BB95/08097]

62. Fremlins brewery malthouse, Faversham, Kent. [BB96/01754]

The century also witnessed increasing sophistication in the arrangement of processes and in

constructional techniques. At the beginning of the 19th century there were three patterns of

malthouse in operation, the simple two storey type, the Ware type and the Newark type. What is

certain is that the one new type and one hybrid type appeared late in the 19th century. First was

the multi-storey type which seems to have been built for the first time in the 1860s, at least all

the examples which can be securely dated were built no earlier. Examples include Warwick and

Richardson’s Brewery Maltings, Northgate, Newark built in 1864, and several examples in

Pontefract and elsewhere in Yorkshire. Then following the repeal of the malt tax in 1880, the

multi-storey - Ware hybrid type appears.

At the beginning of the century most malthouses were of fairly simple construction, their load

bearing walls built of preferred local materials, wooden floors covered in an impermeable

material such as plaster screed or later tiles and

carried on wooden joists and beams perhaps

supported by wooden storey posts. Thus stone was

commonly used in the north and west of the country,

and in the oolitic limestone areas. Elsewhere, in the

Midlands and South, brick was used. Fairly early in the

century cast iron columns replaced wooden storey

posts but with rare exceptions such as the “fireproof

construction” of the Midford maltings near Bath which

had stone jack arching carried on inverted Y profile

cast iron beams, maltings otherwise remained

conservative in their construction (fig 63). The roof

63. Midford, Clearbrook, North Somerset. [BB96/10269]


structures were predominantly queen post, although smaller malthouses might have a kingpost

roof structure and more rarely a simple prop system was used for example at The Walls

Maltings, Mistley, Essex.

The increase in size, however, was to bring changes in their construction and design. Firstly the

massively strong wall required by taller maltings witnessed brick replacing stone universally.

Then, towards the end of the century, concrete and steel were selectively introduced for floor

construction. Concrete was even used as the major building material, as at the so-called Kiln

Warehouse at Newark, c.1860, (fig 64) but this early use of mass concrete had few, if any,

emulators. The introduction of hopper bottomed steeps, the mechanical handling and turning of

grain (fig 65) and patent kilns all had repercussion for the construction of the buildings. Thus

after the repeal of the malt tax, steeps could easily by located high up in the building just below

the attic stores and gravity could be used more effectively to eased the movement of grain. This

allowed as many as four or five growing floors and multiple steeps with the consequent need for

mechanical transfer of grain to the kilns which themselves might have more than one floor. This

new freedom of arrangement is shown in the architect's drawings for Downing's Maltings at

Gloucester (fig 66). All

these changes require

power and for the first

time engine houses

became a feature of

maltings. The adoption of

entirely different malting

techniques such as

pneumatic malting had a

profound effect on the

construction of buildings

and though such

maltings appeared at the

very end of the century,

they are considered

under the twentieth

century.

64. The Kiln Warehouse, Trentside, Newark before the fire of 1992. [A Patrick]


65. Turning grain, East Dereham, Norfolk. [BB93/10019]

66. Architect’s Drawing: Steeps and Growing floors, Downing’s Maltings, Merchants Road, Gloucester. [BB94/17508]

Secondly the appearance of maltings changed with the rise of the specialist designer. Hitherto

maltings had been essentially very plain functional buildings achieving any aesthetic effect by

the massing of their distinctive components.

From the 1860s onwards some attempts were

made to liven up the appearance of maltings with

the use of patterned brickwork and making a

feature of sack hoist canopies (fig 67). By 1880

there were several specialist brewers’ and

maltsters’ architectural firms, mainly based in

London and Nottingham, but conducting work all

over the county. Henceforth maltings exhibited

common design features such as arcading

between buttresses, prominent engine houses and

ornate office blocks. Malthouses also continued to

be designed within the industry with no less

dramatic effect. At the turn of the century Robert

Free designed his own maltings at Mistley while the

massive Shobnall (Burton) and Sleaford Maltings

were the work of Bass’s engineer-cum-architect, H.

A. Couchman (fig 68).

67. Exterior Malthouse No 2 Weymouth, Dorset. [BB95/07423]

The 20th Century

Floor malting continued throughout the twentieth century despite the

introduction of pneumatic maltings. Likewise, and perhaps

surprisingly floor maltings continued to be built, in particular during

the first decade of the twentieth century, as at Mistley (fig 69) and it

was not until 1952/3 that the last one was built at Market Street,

Grimsby for Messrs Sanders (fig 70). It was highly automated. There

is significantly one complex which was completed in the middle of

the first decade of the twentieth century which is probably the largest

ever built, the Bass Maltings at Sleaford. The site included eight

large maltings linked by

gantries, and between

the centre two blocks, an

engine house, and a

central barley garner and

drying kiln.

68. Bass Maltings, Sleaford, Lincolnshire. [BB82/09997]

69. Free Rodwell’s Malthouse No 7, Mistley, Essex [A Patrick]

70. Sander’s Malthouse, Market Street, Grimsby. [BB96/02207]


Early pneumatic malting plants often were not dissimilar from ordinary floor maltings, and it was

not until after the second World War that distinctive pneumatic plants were built, for example at

Louth, Wallingford and Bury St Edmunds. Often

pneumatic plants are located in buildings which

might house any light industrial plant.

The malting industry has never stood still and

new developments continue, with some of the

most recent being at Kentford in Suffolk. One

building, however, which can be said to stand

out in more ways than one is the Bass tower

maltings in Burton-on-Trent. It is quite literally a

tower of substantial height and can be seen

from many view points in the town.

71. Pneumatic maltings, Louth, Lincolnshire. [AA98/03378]

The Established Typology

It is perhaps easiest to start this section with details of the types of buildings which have

evolved, and then consider their development and whether there was any particular chronology.

Maltings are very much functional buildings and each part of the process is often recognisable

from the building’s external features.

It would appear that in addition to simple single and two storey maltings there are at least two

other early types – the Newark and the Ware types. Surviving examples indicate that from at

least the 17th century all three types co-existed and thus there is no simple chronological

development. Thus Boyes Court, a Ware type, predates Newark examples at Chipping

Campden, Uley and Harvington Hall and many simple two storey maltings elsewhere.

Two Storey Pattern

Then there is the two storey type which as its name implies was a malthouse with only two

storeys. The bottom one was the one on which the barley was grown and the top one was for

storage of the barley and the malt. The steep was at one end of the building and the kiln was at

the opposite end.

72. Malthouse, Alne, North Yorkshire. [A Patrick]


Ware Pattern

The Ware type, named after the town of Ware in Hertfordshire, is a malthouse which has

separate provision for storing the malted grain. The barley storage is thus at one end of the

building, then next to it the growing section, then the kiln(s) and finally beyond the kilns the malt

storage. It is worth noting that this is the

only type where it is possible to

distinguish externally between the barley

storage and the malt storage. The Ware

type of malthouse may have any number

of storeys.

Boyes Croft is now a Ware pattern

malthouse, however it has been altered

over time, with the steep dated to the

late-18th century and the kiln and malt

store dated to the early 19th century.

Therefore caution should be used when

stating that an early malthouse is of the Ware pattern, or indeed any particular pattern. Despite

this need for caution, it can be said that maltings do usually conform to typical layouts, but

sometimes with variations.

73. Maltings in Ware, Hertfordshire. [BB92/01273]

74. Plan of the ground floor. Langwith Maltings, Derbyshire (demolished)


Newark Pattern

Then there is the Newark type. This type usually had three storeys, (though see below) and

usually the bottom and top floors were the ones on which the barley was grown, with the barley

and malt storage areas on the middle floor, but of course separate. The steep was more or less

next to the kiln and the working pattern was such that the soaked barley was emptied from the

steep onto the bottom growing floor and moved along that floor until it was part grown. It was

then moved (hoisted) to the top

growing floor and worked back to

the kiln, the furnace of which was

usually by the steep on the bottom

floor. There is, however, at least

one example with only two storeys,

Boxley, Kent, and sometimes there

was a fourth loft storey.

75. Plan of the ground floor. Kiln Warehouse, Trentside, Newark.

76. Malthouse, Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire.

[AA005837]


Multi-Storey Pattern

A variant of the two storey is the multi-storey. The principle is the same, the bottom storeys are

used for growing and the top one or two, depending on the overall number of floors, were for

storage. The steep was at one end of the building and the kiln(s) were at the opposite end..

77. Plan of the ground floof. Warwick and Richardson’s Brewery Maltings, Northgate, Newark.

Hybrid: Multi-Storey - Ware Pattern

Finally there is the hybrid multi storey Ware type. In this type

either barley storage or the malt storage is at one end of the

building as in the Ware type of malthouse, but unlike that

type not at both ends. Then, whichever of the barley or malt

is not at one end is stored on the top floor(s) as in the multi

storey type of malthouse. Obviously if the malt storage is at

one end of the building, then the kiln will be between it and

the growing floors. Therefore it is usually possible to

determine which is a barley storage area and which is a malt

storage area.

78. Malthouse No 4 Weymouth,

Dorset. [BB95/08097]


Pneumatic Maltings

Pneumatic maltings are a type on their own, and certainly by the mid 20th century they cannot

be said to resemble any of the earlier maltings. That is not the case with some of the late 19th

century pneumatic maltings which were laid out very much like a traditional floor maltings.

There had been two largely unsuccessful attempts to develop pneumatic maltings in the mid

19th century. The first attempt was by Patrick Stead in 1842 and then in 1852 Tizzard developed

a different system. However, it was not until 1878 that a true pneumatic malting was developed

although it was still not mechanical, and turning the grain was done by hand! The building of the

first English pneumatic malting does survive at Beeston, Nottinghamshire (not listed), although

there is no particular evidence of its early use.

The national development of pneumatic maltings (that is pneumatic and mechanical) did not

begin until the late 1880s. There were two types of system. One uses a rotating drum to turn the

sprouting grain and the other is a box in which the grain is turned by large moving screws. Both

systems had air forced through them which was the pneumatic part of the process. The earliest

Saladin (box) plant was at Wainford, Norfolk (1891) and the earliest drum malting was at

Sawbridgeworth (1896). Thereafter a number of pneumatic maltings were built, mainly for

breweries and distilleries (English) and more rarely for malting firms. The one notable exception

was the drum maltings at Sawbridgeworth (Lower Sheering, Essex) for H. A. & D. Taylor. It

would appear that the breweries and distilleries had more money to invest in this new invention

which would in any case save them money in the long run. Most of the evidence for the

installation of pneumatic plant comes from the Brewers’ Journal and that appears to have

reported primarily on drum maltings. Thus it should not be taken for granted that Saladin plants

were not installed, rather they were not consistently reported. In addition these, old floor

maltings were sometimes converted, for example at South Milford, North Yorkshire was

converted to a drum malting. It ceased to operate in the late 1990s.

Although pneumatic maltings were built from the 1890s onwards, it was still common for floor

maltings to be built, in particular in the first decade of the 20th century, and even thereafter, in

the 1920s, 1930s and with as we have

seen the last one being built in 1952/3 at

Grimsby. In fact it was not until after the

Second World War that pneumatic plant

really began to supersede floor malting.

New plants were built in the 1950s at

Louth, (Saladin), and at Wallingford and at

Bury St Edmunds, for example. These new

plants looked less and less like traditional

maltings, and more and more like any other

factory, for example French and Jupps

modern drum maltings at Stanstead Abbots

are in plain factory buildings.

79. Saladin Box Maltings, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. [AA98/03358]


Regional Distribution of Types

The various types of malthouses discussed above do not have specific geographical locations.

All types, as far as can be judged from the approximate number of 400 malthouses studied,

appear across England. However, certain types do predominate in specific areas. Thus the

Newark pattern is found in Newark. In that town the examples are large scale for example the

Concrete Maltings, Trentside, Newark, South Block (Grade II*), North Block (Grade II). Smaller

and earlier examples are to be found in the Cotswolds and along the limestone ridge of the

south west with examples at The Old Brewery, Brockhampton, Gloucestershire (Grade II) and

at Eastcourt, Wiltshire (Grade II). The Newark type is also found in Dorset, Kent, Lincolnshire,

Oxfordshire and Suffolk.

The two storey type again is to be found in a number of counties but so far the greatest number

appear in East Anglia. The best examples were the Brooks Maltings, The Walls, Manningtree/

Mistley, Essex (Grade II). However, examples are also to be found in Derbyshire,

Gloucestershire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire and Suffolk.

The Ware and Multi-Storey patterns are perhaps most widely spread. There are good examples

of the former in Ware itself at Hoe Lane and Kibes Lane (Grade II). It is also found in

Derbyshire, Dorset, Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Wiltshire.

The Multi-Storey malthouses are to be found in Cambridgeshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex,

Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk, South,

North and West Yorkshire with a particularly good example in Bristol, St Andrews Street,

Montpelier (Grade II).

Hybrid Malthouses have mainly been found in Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Lincolnshire

and Staffordshire, but were no doubt the more usual type for some of the later malthouses.

Conclusion

Malthouses are a distinctive building type latterly typified by long elevations of regularly spaced

louvred windows with a distinctive kiln at one end. However not all maltings are clearly

recognisable as such as they may lack a kiln or the long elevations of regularly spaced

windows. Historically malt has been produced in structures specifically designed for the

purpose of making malt from at least the 13th century (Nottingham’s cave maltings). Equally

early malthouses are the less likely to be recognisable as such, and there is also little doubt that

malt was made in barns and probably kilned in a bread oven. Despite this malthouses have

been a recognisable feature of our landscape from the beginning of 16th century and survive as

such into the 21st century. They are to be found along lines of communication: rivers, canals

and railway lines. They are found in urban areas, cities, towns and villages, and in rural

locations, on farms or more or less in isolation (Coryton, Devon). As the need for floor made

malt has diminished, so new uses have had to be found for the maltings buildings. Now that

there are just six working floor maltings, it is appropriate to assess how the other malthouses no

longer in use as such should be managed. Important and typical features need to be retained

when the inevitable conversion takes place, for if the malthouses are to survive at all they have


to have an economic use. Part Two of this report discusses the future of malthouses whether in

use as such or not.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (PUBLISHED SOURCES)

Brown, J. (1983) Steeped in Tradition, The Malting Industry in England since the Railway Age, Reading. Crosby, T (2000) The development of malthouses around the Hertfordshire - Essex border, Industrial Archaeology Review, Volume 22, number 1, pages 39 to 51. Ford, W. (1862) A Practical treatise on Malting and Brewing with an Historical Account of the Malt Trade and Laws deduced from 40 Year’s Experience, London. Harrison, W. The Description of England, Edited by Georges Edelen in 1968, Cornell University Press. Hopkinson, J. (1983) Little Cowarne, A Herefordshire Village, The Bromyard and District Local History Society. Page 70. Lancaster, H. (1908) Practical Floor Malting, London. Markham, Gervase, The English Housewife. Edited by M.R. Best in 1986, McGill Queen’s University Press. Patrick, A., (1977) Maltings in Nottinghamshire, A Survey in Industrial Archaeology, Notts CC, Planning and Transportation. Patrick, A., (1996), Establishing a Typology for the Buildings of the Floor Malting Industry, in Industrial Archaeology Review, Volume 18, number 2, pages 180 to 200. Rees, A. (1819) The Cyclopaedia; or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature, Volume 22 - Malt, London. Ross-Mackenzie, J. (1935) Brewing and Malting, London. Stopes, H. (1885) Malt and Malting, London. The London and Country Brewer, 1738 - 1842, London. The Brewer’s Journal.


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